Chapter 16: Compensated Dating
Chapter 16: Compensated Dating
“I don’t have a girlfriend.”
Fang Jing said dismissively, “She’s just a classmate. We happened to meet.”
“Oh! I see…”
Kuraruka nodded silently.
The two chatted idly until they reached the school. Kuranaga greeted him and then hurried off to her classroom.
At that moment, he ran into another acquaintance.
“Good morning, Nishizuka.”
“Good morning, Shokuba.”
Just now, Shokuba Haruka had been standing behind him. It seemed she had noticed him and Kuraruka earlier.
“But… is that really okay? Nishizuka, you’re flirting with a junior so early in the morning.”
“Don’t talk nonsense. Her surname is Kuranaga. She’s a neighbor from the same apartment building. We just met on the way to school.”
Shokuba Haruka teased him, but Fang Jing just yawned again and replied lazily.
“Haha, that excuse of yours… Wait a minute, you said that girl’s surname is Kuranaga? Could she be the Kuranaga from Class B, first year?”
“Yes, there should only be one person named Kuranaga in Class B, first year. Well, her name is Kuranaga Kuraruka.”
Fang Jing’s words caused Shokuba Haruka’s expression to change. She first frowned, then looked Fang Jing up and down. After a moment, she sighed and said, “Nishizuka, you should try to keep a little distance from that girl from now on…”
“What do you mean by that?”
Fang Jing asked back with suspicion.
“…”
Shokuba Haruka didn’t reply and just went straight up the stairs.
Fang Jing thought she was acting a bit strangely and followed her, pressing further, “Shokuba, if you have something to say, just say it. Does it have something to do with Kuranaga?”
Shokuba Haruka ascended the steps, but her behavior became somewhat odd. She gave Fang Jing a sideways glance, smoothed her hair, and then turned to face him, saying, “I’m saying this for your own good. How should I put it… That girl named Kuranaga—she doesn’t have a very good reputation among the girls. You’d better not get too close to her or try to date her.”
Fang Jing shook his head. “I’m not dating her! And what exactly do you mean by that?”
Shokuba Haruka seemed to find it difficult to speak. After a moment, she said slowly, “I really don’t like talking about people behind their backs, and I’ve only heard about her from others, so I can’t be sure of the details… But, Kuranaga Kuraruka—it must be her, right… She might be doing compensated dating.”
Compensated dating? Enjo kōsai?
Fang Jing blinked, taking a while to realize what it meant.
“Huh?!”
Shokuba Haruka let out a relieved sigh. She really hated topics like this.
“That’s it… Even though it’s a ‘rumor,’ it’s not completely groundless. Anyway, that girl is a bit too high-level for someone with a virgin face like yours. You’d better not make a move on her.”
“So that’s all you wanted to say…”
Fang Jing felt bored. He thought it was something serious, but it turned out to be suspicions about Kuranaga doing compensated dating. However, this had nothing to do with him…
—Shokuba must be worried that I’ll get tricked. But that fits her kind-hearted personality.
“Hey! I’m just worried about you, you know?”
Seeing his dismissive attitude, Shokuba Haruka snorted quietly. This idiot didn’t appreciate her concern.
“It’s because you have the face of a virgin who’d easily be fooled by women…”
“There’s no such weird face!”
Fang Jing couldn’t help rolling his eyes and followed her straight to the classroom.
——————————
Once he entered the classroom, Fang Jing noticed one thing: Fujiwara Shoichi was absent again.
He hadn’t attended class for at least a week. And Fujiwara Shoichi’s lackeys were avoiding his gaze.
Fang Jing didn’t care about such trivial matters. What concerned him most right now was the issue with his apartment.
The morning classes passed quickly. During lunch break, Fang Jing went to the library, planning to use the school computers to look into things.
But he found out that he needed to apply to use the computers.
“This is a bit troublesome…”
Applying wasn’t difficult, but someone had reserved them earlier. Fang Jing checked and realized that if he wanted to use the computer to search online, he’d probably have to wait until after school.
With nothing else to do, Fang Jing started wandering around the library.
Kiryo High School’s library was quite large, with plenty of books. Fang Jing browsed the shelves, looking to see if there were any books he wanted.
“…Aren’t there any books related to ‘ghosts,’ ‘monsters,’ ‘spirits,’ or things like that?”
He had wanted to look up some information on that topic, but unfortunately, the library shelves had nothing of the sort.
“Wait, what’s this… ‘Jiling Local Customs Research Survey Collection’…”
Local customs research—could it be something like a local chronicle? It should be a type of record that reflects the natural geography, culture, and products of a certain area.
Fang Jing gradually became interested. He took out the thin booklet and, after flipping through it, was immediately captivated.
This local customs research turned out to be a survey report specifically about “ghost stories” around Jiling. In other words, it was a research report based mainly on local legends and urban myths.
Although it was a thin booklet of less than thirty pages, it described and recorded many rare local ghost stories in considerable detail.
According to the introduction at the beginning of the book, the area of Kitsuwa City had long been regarded as an unusual territory, a region where abnormal phenomena frequently occurred.
During the Taisho period, it was developed as an industrial city. Due to the presence of coal and iron mines in the vicinity, many factory facilities were built.
Because of environmental development issues, local residents had several conflicts with the authorities. Later, after multiple negotiations, the civilian groups organized by the local residents eventually quieted down. The conflicts between the two sides eased, compromises were made, and factories were gradually built. However, many underlying tensions remained.
During the development process, large areas of forests, mountains, farmland, and private land were destroyed. On the other hand, due to strong demands from local residents, the government carried out cultural, heritage, and land conservation efforts. To this day, the city still preserves some pristine areas that have continued since ancient times, as well as long-standing cultural traditions.
In the post-industrial era, environmental protection became a government priority. Most factories also went bankrupt during the economic bubble. In the suburbs, one could still see many abandoned warehouses and factories—remnants of the old industrial zones…
After reading the introduction, Fang Jing found the booklet quite interesting.
“Hello, I’d like to borrow this book.”
Finding it quite intriguing, he picked up the thin booklet and went to the library committee member’s desk.
On the desk were thick books tied with string. A female student with glasses and braided pigtails sat in the chair.
Judging by the color of her sailor uniform ribbon, she seemed to be a senior. Her style was very classical, almost like a high school girl from another era.
“Please let me take a look.”
The senior first glanced at the thin booklet, then typed a few things on the computer.
“That’s strange. This book doesn’t seem to be in our catalog.”
“Huh?”
“…”
The senior carefully searched through the library’s catalog documents. She then picked up the thin booklet and examined it closely.
“And there’s no library stamp. That’s really odd. There isn’t even a catalog label stuck on it.”
After thinking for a moment, she said in a low voice, “It’s possible this book was overlooked when the catalog was made and wasn’t included. Another possibility is that the book was acquired before the library catalog was compiled…”